, 1887-09-24
SWEPT BY THE WIND.
Brownsville, Tex, Visited by a
Terrible Storm.
Hundreds Of Buildings I'm
rooted and Wrecked.
The Damage to Live Stock and
Crops Very Great
A Terrible Texas Tornado.


BROWNSVILLE, Sept. 24.-The tele-
graph several days ago CAV notice of a
hurricane southwest of Havana and
moving this way, and for two or three
days the weather indications showed the
approach of a storm. Though the baron:
eter and tide in the gulf usually give
warning of the coming of bad weather,
this storm gave no notice of its immedi-
ate approach. At 9 o'clock Tuesday
evening the norther that had been blow
ing for several days increased in %furiness,
with heavy gusts of rain. In a short time
the hurricane was on the town in full
force, the wind reaching in the height of
the storm a velocity of seventy-eight
miles per hour. All night long it con
tinued bowling, being mingled now and
then with the crash of a falling house,
the rending sounds of falling trees, and
the rafting of fences as they went over,
or shouts of those deserving their
crumbling residences or lmploring aid.
Morning dawned on the scene of desc
lation. Water filled the streets, through
which the roaring north wind drove the
rain like great %volleys of small shot. Fall
len trees. ruins of houses and PROSTATE
fences, all half submerged in water, rem
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GUS. AT 2:30 p. m. the wind lulled and
there was almost a dead calm. Later it
arose again at intervals, but not so severe,
until this morning, when it ceased. The
duration of the storm may be said to be
thirty-five hours. The rainfall was very
heavy-l0. 40 inches. The damage in the
country outside the two cities is incalcula.
BILE. Countless herds of cattle and sheep
have been lost and crops of cotton. corn
and sugar cane completely Frustrated
and destroyed. One rancher on a small
place calculates his loss in cotton alone at
500, 900 and many others are equally
heavy losers. The total of the losses will
not be far behind 81, 900, 900 in Browns.
vile. The chief sufferers were among the
poor. Between sixty and eighty jackals,
or cheaper class of dwellings, have been
blown down, and fully three hundred
have been unroofed and rendered unln-
habitable. The telegraph wire from
Point Isabel is down and it is not known
how things are there. There is great suf-
fering among the poor, many of whom
are without resources. The river is
again very high and OVERLOOKING its
banks.
In Matamoras the narrow streets dur
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ankle to nearly hip deep. Even In the
more central parts of the town the streets
are all encountered with debris. In the
city about a dozen houses of the better
class, and fully one hundred and fifty or
two hundred jackalls were Frustrated,
while from four hundred to five hundred
were unroofed or shattered. Public
buildings, stores and the better class of
dwellings leaked like sleeves, and are all
ahoat.
The unfortunate lagoon district, south
of the Plaza del Capilla, is again inun-
dated. A large portion of the houses
have fallen in and the water is from knee
to waist deep. From u o'clock Tuesday
night to noon yesterday the police, mill
tary and many citizens were engaged in
saving the inhabitants and their effects.
The suffering in the town and country is
generally severe.